Here it is, the 121st full chapter of Miraculous Quirks released a little early for a special reason. This chapter was teased, at least the confrontation part, last chapter but as you will see that's just the tip of the iceberg that will occur in this chapter as we continue in this special time skip arc. That is all the administrative stuff that I have for you, however, and there are no guest reviews to respond to or questions to answer so I will end this note here. Do keep the reviews coming as I enjoy hearing from y'all. That is all I have for this pre chapter note so that means that it is time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the 121st full chapter of Miraculous Quirks.
Disclaimer: I do not own either of these great works of fiction.
Chapter 121: Attempting to Learn Gossip
Toru was working at her desk when her work was interrupted by a knock on her door. She'd not expected the knock as it was after dinner, so she jumped slightly at that, course this was only visible due to her pajamas moving thanks to her Invisibility Quirk, but turned to her door regardless. If one of her friends wanted to chat, she was more than willing to do so, and it was better than the damned English homework she was working on.
"Come in." Toru called out and the door opened, and Mina stepped in before closing the door and locking it behind her which got Toru's attention. "Er, Mina, what do you want?"
"I can't take it anymore." Mina wailed flailing her arms clearly having not heard Toru as she made her way to Toru's bed and collapsed on it, pulling the purple cushion thing with a red ribbon on it to her chest to cuddle it in the excessively pink and girly room. "I need confirmation and I need it now."
"About what?" Toru asked her friend as she turned to look at Mina who was now lying on her bed kicking her legs as she cuddled Toru's pillow.
"Ochaco." Mina said which told Toru everything, but Mina continued regardless. "I need confirmation that she's in love with Midoriya, all this lovey dovey stuff at the moment and the whole strange game they've been playing basically all year is too much for me to handle. I just want to know for certain that's all. Like come on she definitely gave him chocolates, but she won't tell us that she did. We'd help her out, she knows that."
Toru nodded in understanding at that and honestly, she should have seen this coming the moment Mina showed up in her room. Valentine's Day had just passed a few days ago and while the girls had had a lot of fun making chocolate for the class, which was even better because they could do it at Marinette's bakery in town where they had privacy and girl time doing it, and Mina had enjoyed having her heartstrings strummed by the love on campus but there was still one thing missing. Their sweet and cute friend who had a massive, not so secret, crush on one of their classmates hadn't done anything about it.
Well, more accurately she hadn't done anything that they'd seen about it. The evidence was there seeing as Ochaco had stayed back to help Marinette clean up after the initial session and prepare Marinette's own romantic chocolate for her boyfriend. That was to be expected, and both girls had loved the tender moment between Marinette and Agreste before they left to do their own Valentine things even if they had to have Momo translate it for them as it had been in French, but Ochaco hadn't done anything for Midoriya.
At least nothing had been done that they could prove and clearly Mina wanted to confirmation. Toru agreed with Mina on this front and clearly Mina had some plan or else she wouldn't be here so she may as well hear her friend out.
"We all know that Ochaco likes him, literally the only person who doesn't is Midoriya but he's as dense as they come when it comes to romance." Toru said before remembering her own growing feelings that she quickly ignored as he too was dense on that front. "Ok maybe it's most of the guys in our class but with Midoriya, it's like he's some anime protagonist who's clueless to the heroine being in love with him when it's so painful to the rest of us that she is."
"Yeah, I know right." Mina said finishing her flailing to turn to her side to look at Toru pleased to hear that her first mate was on board with her current situation regarding her favorite class ship. "I don't know why she's not told him, or us, but it's clear that she's in love with him. I mean come on, she stayed behind to 'help' Marinette with chocolates even though we know Marinette doesn't need help there, and then she disappeared early in the party."
"She said she had to go to the bathroom." Toru pointed out. "It's why she missed Marinette's sweet exchange with Agreste."
"Toru, my precious innocent kitten, how blind you are." Mina said causing Toru to blink at her in confusion at the statement not that Mina noticed as she continued. "Marinette was alone with Ochaco in the bakery, she no doubt helped Ochaco out with her chocolates for Midoriya as she told Ochaco of her own plans with Agreste so that Ochaco could use that distraction to slip into the bathroom, lock a stall, and then float out through a window before floating up to Midoriya's balcony to slip in and place the chocolates she made on his pillow, hopefully in a heart shaped box and maybe even add a note that was a full or partial confession, before coming back and using the bathroom excuse. I bet she even had her period as ready just in case we questioned her."
"Er Mina you're kinda scaring me now." Toru said as she blinked in surprise at her friend, not that Mina or anyone could see that. "You've put some serious thought into this and the way you described it sounds like some anime or manga's convoluted plan to give chocolates to your crush in secret. Remember the whole Prince Charming thing started because your basis for that sort of stuff is what you've read in manga."
"Just because it happens in animes, and manga doesn't mean that it doesn't happen in real life too, those things have to have some basis in reality after all." Mina said defiantly. "I know what happened, but I don't have any proof or confirmation of it. Doesn't Ochaco trust us with her secret? We'd be there to help her with it and support her in her quest to get her man."
"Mina, you'd tease her mercilessly and then reveal a half dozen plans you have to get them together with each getting progressively more complex, ridiculous, or only possible by abusing Yao-Momo's Quirk." Toru pointed out. "They are an adorable couple and it's clear that he likes her back, like you I'm fully on board with them being together, but you can't rush them. I want them to get together as much as the next girl, but it won't happen for a while I fear."
"Try 5 dozen." Mina said.
"Come again?" Toru asked.
"5 dozen." Mina said. "I have at least 5 dozen plans and counting to get those two together though some are rather hard to do, not sure where I'd get a portable particle accelerator after all."
"Mina, if you put this much effort into your schoolwork you wouldn't be near the bottom of the class." Toru pointed out not that she was in the top half academically herself. "You've clearly got brains to you if you've got that many plans."
"But that stuff isn't worth my time." Mina said. "This is. I'm just looking out for my girl Ochaco and want her to be happy and Midoriya will make her so happy, I know it. All she needs to do is trust us with her crush and we can go from there."
"Well, even if she's not trusted us, there is one person in the class she would." Toru said with a sigh as it seemed that Valentine's Day had set the Mina train into motion and now, she was a runaway locomotive on this issue. "We all know who Ochaco would have turned to for this advice and who she'd confide in because it's the same person we'd turn to as well."
"Marinette." Mina said though she already knew that. "The unrivaled strongest member of the Hero Course as far as we're concerned and our leader when it's just us girls as a group. If anyone can confirm it, it's her. I've suspected she's known for a while but that little chocolate making thing was what sealed it for me."
"Precisely." Toru said with a nod as she decided to commit to this as well because she did want the confirmation herself and this was the only way to at least slow Mina down at the moment it seemed. "So, if we want confirmation, we'll have to go to her and ask for it."
"Really?" Mina asked. "You will help me convince her to spill?"
"Of course, I want confirmation as well and the two of us are better than one." Toru said. "Though we should be ready for rejection or some challenge from her."
"Whatever, I'll do what I need to in order to get that confirmation." Mina said as she rose of Toru's bed and put her pillow back where it originally was. "Let's go to Marinette now."
Toru just rolled her eyes and got up as Mina headed to her door. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to stop Mina when she had her mind set on something like this so best to just go with it and talk to Marinette. Hopefully, the price, if there was one at all, wouldn't be too steep.
"Come again?" Marinette asked Mina and Toru as they stood before her in her room having just explained what they wanted as Marinette sat in her desk chair with her arms folded across her chest her eyebrow raised as she looked at her friends. "You want me to confirm that?"
Marinette had been peacefully working on her homework, with a little fashion design on the side for Adrien's latest outfit she wanted to see him in, as the kwamis did their own things when the knock came. That had been unexpected, but Marinette was always there for her friends, so she turned to face the door and called out to tell whoever was there to come in.
Naturally the kwamis hid as she did this and Marinette was surprised to see that Mina and Toru were the ones to come in when she said they could. She'd not expected them to come to her at this hour, well maybe Toru would given the time of year but as she was sure the invisible girl was still in denial over her budding crush on one of their classmates Marinette didn't think that Toru was ready to discuss that yet. Certainly, she didn't expect Mina as well.
Of course once they stated their reason it made sense. They, along with Kyoka, were the only girls in the class who Ochaco hadn't confirmed her crush on Midoriya to but as with everyone with a set of eyes and a shred of common sense, all three girls knew that their brunette friend had fallen hard for their green haired classmate. Still, because Ochaco hadn't confirmed it to them, Mina at least was desperate to know for certain especially after Valentine's Day and Toru was likely along for the ride. As such they'd come to her for confirmation on that front as they hoped that Marinette would know for certain.
Even if Marinette didn't know for certain, which she did as she was the one who helped Ochaco realize that she loved Midoriya, she wouldn't tell them that they were spot on regarding Ochaco's feelings. That was Ochaco's secret to share not hers and she'd not break her friend's trust like that.
"We want to know if Ochaco made Midoriya chocolates for Valentine's Day while you two were alone in that kitchen above your bakery." Mina repeated. "And for you to confirm that she has a crush on him."
"It's hard to deny that she didn't make chocolates for him seeing as she stayed to help you clean." Toru pointed out now fully invested in this following Mina's chat a moment ago. "But Ochaco won't confirm it herself. We know she loves him; we just want confirmation that's all."
"That's all Ochaco did, help clean while I made Adrien his chocolates." Marinette said as she looked between the two her years of lying back in France, and again her regarding her backstory, making the lie easy to tell even if she knew the other girls knew it was a lie as well. "Anything else I don't know."
"That's bull Marinette and we know it." Mina said. "Come on, you know. Even if you're telling the truth, which we know you're not, but we respect you sticking to your guns, you're the most likely to know. I mean come on, we all know you're our leader, our inspiration, and the classmate we look up to the most, we'll all but Ochaco because that's Midoriya for her, but that's also why she'd have come to you for advice on this topic."
"Add in that you have a boyfriend and you're the obvious choice for romantic advice." Toru said. "So just tell us already."
"Yes I do and if I recall my boyfriend gave you a princess carry." Marinette said with a grin as she looked at where she was certain Toru's head was thanks to her pajamas. "In your hero costume or lack thereof in fact. I didn't get upset at that because the situation demanded it Toru, but I'll give you the stones to come to me for information knowing that I could always seek some satisfaction for that."
"Hey, it was a necessity in the exercise, and he just tossed me to the side at the end so there was nothing to it." Toru said defensively waving her arms to her sides as indicated by her sleeves moving. "And besides, it's not the first time I've been carried like that, you got that honor after you tossed me at those earth monsters as life bait."
"Oh yeah, good times, you did make for a fine distraction back then." Marinette said with a smile. "Shame that Ojiro wasn't around to catch you at the end, but I couldn't arrange that."
"Marinette!" Toru squealed as she blushed, not that it was noticeable, and Mina gave her a wicked side eyed grin.
"Oh, we're talking about this later Toru because I have wondered why he's the only guy you consistently hang out with." Mina said before she focused back on Marinette. "But come on Marinette, it's not like we all don't know that Ochaco is crushing on Midoriya, we just want confirmation, and you can give it to us."
"And you can't just ask Ochaco because…" Marinette said.
"Because she'll deny it and then get all flustered and not say anymore while making us float." Mina said which did give Marinette an idea for how to solve this problem, which she'd run by Ochaco afterwards, but she knew her friend would approve if it meant getting Mina off her back for a while. "So, we came to you instead for answers because we know that you know and would at least be reasonable."
"I see." Marinette said with a sigh as she realized that Mina wasn't going to let up, but she had her idea now. "Very well, I'll tell you what I know but on one condition, one that you should remember well Mina."
"Huh?" Mina asked confused. "What condition?"
"Beat me in a fight." Marinette said simply as she looked at Mina and then to Toru as well. "As this is big and both of you want to know you both have to beat me in said fight and to make it a little fairer in a sense, we will have it in the gym and in PE kits. The fight is until either both of you knock me out or force me to surrender, even if I take one of you with me, or I do the same to you. Should be better odds if it's two on one. If you do that, I'll tell you what I know."
"You will." Mina said as Toru gulped at the idea of fighting Marinette in combat.
"I will." Marinette said before grinning and getting serious. "But I win then you never bother me or Ochaco about this again, got it."
"Fight against you." Toru said. "And I take it this is full combat, no holding back."
"Yes." Marinette confirmed. "Both of you at the same time and we treat this like the real deal."
The girls looked at each other, well Mina thought that Toru was looking at her as her head appeared to be turned bused on the movement in her clothes. It was clear that this was the only way to get the answer they wanted and if it was the two of them then maybe they had a chance against someone as strong and skilled as Marinette. As such they turned their heads back to her and nodded, Toru's shirt showing that she was doing that.
"Fine, we accept." Mina said. "Let's do this Marinette."
Marinette just smiled as she nodded back to confirm it and the girls left to prepare for the fight to come, whenever they could get a teacher to supervise it that is. Marinette for her part turned back to her work and resumed it knowing that she had this in the bag.
She didn't like having to put Ochaco's trust on the line like this, though she would get Ochaco's blessing the next morning to allow it on the condition she knocked out Mina cold for it, but this was the only way she could protect it and Ochaco from Mina's actions until Ochaco was ready to share with her. As such Marinette wouldn't let her friend down even if it meant beating her other two friends in combat. Regardless Marinette knew one thing, this was going to be a nice warm up for her battle with the girls of Class 1-B.
"Alright the rules of this training match are simple." Aizawa called out to the three girls standing in the middle of the gym. "Ashido and Hagakure will try to defeat Dupain-Cheng and vice versa. You are considered defeated when your are either rendered unconscious, made immobile which only applies to Dupain-Cheng as she has that ability with her Quirk, or surrender. This may be training but don't hold anything back, treat this fight as if it was a real fight. This will be good practice for teamwork, facing greater odds, and facing an opponent you at least perceive as stronger than you. I will only intervene if I deem it necessary. Understood."
"Yes sir." The girls said all nodding before Mina and Toru backed up and moved to the sides as they looked at Marinette who remained calm in the middle of the room.
It was the day after Mina and Toru had confronted Marinette in hopes of getting the gossip, they wanted out of her, but Marinette had only agreed to do so if they could best her in combat. Mina really wanted that gossip, so she'd agreed to the daunting task of besting Marinette in combat and Toru had been in too deep at that point to back out, plus she too wanted the juicy gossip that was on offer with a win. After all, confirmation of Ochaco's crush on Midoriya was something both girls had been after for a while now.
Of course, they had to set this up so during lunch Marinette had gone to Mr. Aizawa to ask him to oversee their desired training that afternoon and what it would be which he'd agreed to as it was a good idea to test combat. Marinette had even run into Kendo on the way who tagged along so that both could ask Mr. Aizawa and Vlad King about the cross-training plan they had. That one needed a little more approval given the scale of it but the teachers had agreed to discuss it as it was a good training idea and get back to them.
For now, though it was just Marinette verses Mina and Toru as they squared off in the gym in only their PE clothes though Marinette did note that Toru's shirt seemed to bulge a little lower on her chest and wasn't as taught for some reason. She didn't dwell on that though as she thought of her plan and how to take the other girls down. She had a good idea how to do it and the order so she cracked her neck and loosened up, a grin on her face as Mr. Aizawa just said.
"What are you waiting for, this is a training battle for the real world and villains aren't going to wait for some declaration of the battle to start, now are they?"
"Oh damn." Mina said while Marinette cursed in French and feinted at Toru to put her on the back step before turning and charging Mina as the pink sparkles formed around her as she activated Lucky Charm. "Great, I'm first up."
"Your hand-to-hand training is going too well to ignore and you're one of the few in the class who can match my mobility on a battlefield without the aid of my yo-yo." Marinette said as she ran, and the item formed on her back and the backs of her hands connected by tubes and all in the design of her PE kit. "So, I've got to neutralize you first and I have just the thing to do that."
Aizawa didn't react to that as Mina yelped and used her acid to slide away and arc around while Marinette cut sharply on the ground with a side step and moved to intercept. Ashido may have the speed at the moment, but Dupain-Cheng had greater maneuverability seeing as she wasn't sliding on acid so could make cuts on the ground with her nimble movements.
It was clear to Aizawa that Dupain-Cheng's skills and mind were as sharp as ever, she'd addressed a strong, legit, threat in Ashido's acid and Aizawa was sure that the item on her back would do just that but for once she'd made an error as he saw and then pointedly didn't look at what Hagakure was doing the moment it became clear who Dupain-Cheng was heading for first. Course this could all be part of whatever crazy and pointlessly convoluted plan Dupain-Cheng had come up with to win so he reserved judgement for the moment.
Naturally Marinette wasn't paying attention to this as her vision grayed and she saw the items on her hands flash with a ladybug print pattern and then the same apply to Mina's acid and then Mina herself. Marinette grinned at that as raised her arms and unleashed the contents of the machine strapped to her back. As with most of her items like this she had some degree of mental control over its activation as the viscous liquid blasted out and at Mina.
Mina had no idea what it was but saw it coming for her, so she leapt up and flipped in the air to let the liquid that she didn't know what it was pass harmlessly underneath her and twisted her body to land sideways as acid shot for her feet. The liquid may have missed her, but Marinette had made sure to sweep it so that there was plenty beneath Mina and as such she landed in it right after her acid hit it.
It wasn't until she landed and began to slide sideways to get clear for a run at Marinette that she felt something was wrong with her acid and that caused Mina to glance down and her eyes went wide at the sight. The unknown liquid was now steaming and bubbling as it mixed with her acid and suddenly she felt as if she couldn't produce more from her feet though it didn't hurt or destroy her shoes at least. That caused her to come to a stop and she quickly shot acid from her hands at Marinette who had once again cut her steps so as to now be on a direct path towards her.
"Won't work." Marinette said as she blasted the acid with the liquid causing the same reaction when they made contact. "This liquid is an inorganic alkaline solution that likely has the reverse pH to your acid, so it totally neutralizes it. I've had the time to think on what items could counter the Quirks in this class, yours is an easy one to counter."
"Damn it Marinette." Mina said as she began to swing her body to build up her momentum, which was hard with liquid beneath her feet, as Marinette began to close on her so it was time to put all that martial arts training to good use and show what a dancer could do after just a few weeks of intensive capoeira training. "Well let's see you…"
"I think not." Marinette said as she placed one arm over the other and fired out more of the alkaline solution at Mina with the blasts coming out one above the other. "I've got you now Mina."
"Acid Veil." Mina said as she created her ultimate move that allowed her to block most things with a viscous and intense veil of highly concentrated acid, her movements never changing. "Not while I have my moves you don't Marinette."
The Acid Veil did its job in blocking the upper stream of alkaline solution that shot at her and actually managed to maintain some acidic pH as Mina had made it as strong as possible which was above the pH of the solution. What it didn't do was take into account that Marinette had aimed the other stream at the ground rather than at Mina and shot a line of alkaline there that went right to Mina's feet.
As the Acid Veil was doing its thing, Marinette leapt forward and at Mina though she kept her trajectory low so that rather than crash into the now slightly acidic mix that was before Mina, Marinette instead landed on her knees on the alkaline solution she'd laid down there and slide over it similar to how Mina slid on her acid. Of course Marinette didn't have the same kind of natural protections to it but she controlled the hiss of pain as the strong alkaline burnt through her pants from the knees down and burnt her legs though her enhanced constitution helped protect her from anything too serious.
It was all just a price a hero should be willing to pay to get in close as Marinette leant her body back so that she was almost parallel to the ground as she slid under the Acid Veil, that was an odd sight for her, before shooting her upper body up as fast as she could and lowering her head as she reached a now shocked Mina while still sliding on her knees. The pink skinned girl had way of avoiding it as the crown of Marinette's head slammed into her gut and drove the wind from Mina's lungs with a loud gasp as she was bent over Marinette for a moment before she was hurled forward as Marinette kept sliding.
Marinette of course didn't give Mina a moment's pause as she kicked back her legs so that she was just on her knees and slammed them into the ground, which was now normal concrete having passed the end of the liquid, to propel herself up and off it upon which she flipped forward, what was left of her shoes flying off, to land on her now bare feet and run after Mina. All this was done so as to not break her momentum and reach Mina before she had a chance to counter.
Mina, for her part, had been blasted back by the blow and thrown a good 15 feet across the gym to land on the concrete ground with a jarring thud, thankfully she'd been too low to the ground during her flight to break anything thought it hurt like hell, and rolled several more feet. Not that Mina would have noticed a broken bone as she was completely winded by the blow and groaning from the pain of being headbutted in the gut by Marinette.
That was all that Mina managed to do, however, as Marinette closed the gap on her and reached her friend just as she finished her roll. Marinette planted her left foot, cocked her right one back, and kicked it out to slam it into the side of Mina's head in a controlled blow that Fei had taught her especially because of her enhanced constitution. It was designed to knock out a normal person and given them a concussion at worst and that's just what it did to Mina as she was out the moment Marinette kicked her which also fulfilled Marinette's promise to Ochaco to knock Mina out cold.
Mina's body was lifted off the ground and thrown back a few more feet as she spun in the air for a moment before she crashed down to land on her back spread eagled on the ground her eyes white, mouth open, and limbs splayed showing that she was unconscious. Marinette nodded at that and backed up her eyes scanning for Toru as she did as she'd not seen the other girl at all and wanted to be clear of Mina for that fight.
Unfortunately for Marinette that was when she realized her mistake and cursed under her breath as she looked around. Toru was nowhere to be seen but there was a crumpled pile of clothes where she'd been standing at the start next to a pair of shoes. Notably there were no undergarments there and Marinette realized that Toru had been planning this all along and had stripped the moment Marinette had gone for Mina which explained her appearance, she'd not been wearing her bra to be able to strip faster, or panties for that matter.
It was clever and well done but she was still facing Marinette and Lucky Charm and Marinette grinned as she moved away from Mina her eyes scanning. Toru was like Mina, someone with an easy Quirk to nullify with Lucky Charm with the only difference being that unlike with Mina where Marinette attacked her Quirk directly, with Toru it was to overcome her natural stealth advantage.
"Not bad Toru, you prepared for this, I really underestimated you which is my fault for focusing on Mina because she was the instigator whose actions led to me issuing this challenge." Marinette called out to the room as she looked around, Aizawa just watching idly from the sidelines though he'd already decided to chide Dupain-Cheng for her reckless slide as he wasn't sure it was necessary given the situation. "Guess that explains the slight baggage I saw earlier; I thought the bulge was lower than normal so you must wear a push up. Gravity can be a cruel mistress to those with endowments, can't she? Sometimes it's best to be in the itty-bitty club, I don't have to worry about that with my girls."
As Marinette had been speaking, and in reality, taunting Toru to force her to speak and give her location away, Marinette had been mentally changing her goal from neutralizing Mina's acid to finding a completely invisible Toru and her item was changing with her changing goal. The result was as she expected, a pair of infrared googles that formed over her eyes and Marinette grinned as they turned on and she looked around to try and see her friend.
Aizawa just sighed at that. This was why he'd been nervous about being the overseer for a battle between three of his female students, but Midnight's Quirk didn't work as well on women as it did on men so his was better for neutralizing the situation if it got out of hand, not that he expected it to with these three.
Still, he really didn't want to deal with this kind of taunting, especially when it was three of his students. Unfortunately, it was a fair strategy so he couldn't fault Dupain-Cheng for it and Aizawa was more than aware of it in use given that he had been in the year below Midnight so knew the woman well, that woman was deliberately provocative in battle, but still it was annoying.
That said it was also a mistake as Dupain-Cheng now had her item, a good one to face Hagakure but for Hagakure's ultimate move. It would appear that Dupain-Cheng had miscalculated or else she should have gone after Hagakure first, a good learning lesson for her to learn especially as it seemed that whatever brought this on had been caused by Ashido which had clearly clouded Dupain-Cheng's judgement.
"They're not saggy, they're still nice and perky, the perfect size of the girls in the class, a nice handful without being too large." Toru yelled and Marinette turned to the noise to see the heat signature of a person there running at her from a good distance away as it seemed that Toru had retreated to allow Marinette to beat Mina before taking her on using her full stealth skills. "And thanks, this is just what I knew would happen against me, so I don't mind giving my location away thanks to your taunt over my boobs. Lucky Charm works two ways, you can anticipate us but we understand it now so we can predict it to some extent as well even with your brain Marinette. Now, say cheese, Warp Refraction!"
"Merde." Marinette swore as before she could close her eyes under her googles Toru had used her invisible body to refract the light that passed through it, Marinette still had no idea how her Quirk worked, and a series of flashes appeared that her googles weren't ready to handle though at least they weren't night vision ones which would have been a lot worse. "That was a mistake."
Marinette held in her yell of pain as the light seared her eyes through the googles and momentarily blinded her thanks to how it reacted with the sensors in the googles. She still grunted from it, however, and lowered her head and staggered back, her eyes closed, and that was just what Toru had been going for as she finished her sprint to Marinette her fist cocked back.
Toru wanted to yell something cool, but she knew that her best advantage was her invisibility, which she'd been able to use to briefly counter Marinette's powerful Quirk, so she didn't. She simply got near Marinette and then with all her strength punched the other girl squarely in the left side of her jaw as she was staggering from Toru's Warp Refraction attack.
There was a cracking sound, but nothing seemed to break as Marinette spun around, her right hand up for a back of the hand slap that Toru leapt back from to avoid as Marinette righted herself, bent over from the two attacks, and Toru stepped forward and launched a savage kick directly up right into Marinette's sternum to complete the sequence and partially wind the French girl. Unlike Toru and most of the other girls, Marinette didn't have natural padding there and Toru couldn't help but grin at that as it served Marinette right for making a crack at her chest.
The kick had enough force to lift Marinette up into the air, albeit only a few inches, and Toru pulled her leg down and backed up to get some distance and avoid Marinette getting her arms around her leg because then it would be over. Marinette's raw strength ensured that if she grabbed Toru then Toru wasn't breaking free and from there all it would take is a slam to the ground to beat her, so Toru had to fight smart even with the current advantage she had.
Despite the blow to her chest Marinette still managed to land on her feet and gasp a bit as she ripped her googles off and tossed them away, dismissing them in the process and turned her head to look for Toru as tears streamed from her closed eyes and a bruise formed on her jaw as blood filled her mouth from a cut on the inside of her cheek. She's messed up forgetting about Toru's ultimate move and she'd paid for it, not again.
"Not bad Toru, not bad at all." Marinette said as she spat out a gob of blood from her mouth to clear it. "Been a while since someone landed a blow like that, you've been practicing. Still won't bring me down but you've got my attention now girl."
Marinette meant it as she winced in pain and strained her ears to hear her friend but couldn't as Toru wasn't going to respond to her which was wise. Toru's punch had hurt like hell and cut up the inside of Marinette's mouth like Todoroki's had in the Sports Festival and the kick had winded her more than she was willing to admit. Thankfully Toru lacked the necessary strength to break Marinette's bones it seemed, so she was still in fighting shape despite the bruises as she took a deep breath and centered herself in the moment her eyes still closed as she did her best to push the pain from her mind.
It was in moment like this one when her best sense, her vision, was compromised and she was facing a stealth expert with strong hand to hand combat skills that Marinette got envious of Adrien for his enhanced senses. That had been a plus of the Cat Miraculous that had been encoded into his DNA by Mage and while the trade off was that he couldn't turn off the heightened senses it would be really useful in a moment like this as he could just smell and hear where Toru was, theoretically at least.
Alas Marinette didn't have that but what she did have was Lucky Charm and she reset her goal to exclude her vision from it but kept need to locate Toru as the core of the goal. She also pushed it out as fast as she could and the item that formed, something over her ears that enhanced the sound coming to them, was just in time to pick up the slight patter of Toru's footsteps, she was damned soft on her feet, and the slight pant to her breath as she ran at Marinette from behind.
That allowed Marinette to turn, step back half a pace, and get her arm up just in time to intercept the kick that had been aimed at her kidneys. Admittedly, the block was a bit more dumb luck as Marinette had heard Toru come to a stop and the swish of her leg rising but she'd expected a high kick and had been moving to block just that when Toru's midsection kick slammed into Marinette's forearm. Still, she grinned at as she knew she had retaken the advantage.
Toru grunted against the block annoyed that it hadn't worked. After her opening sequence she'd backed up and then stealthily circled around to Marinette's back to attack her from there and continue to press her advantage by using Marinette's recovery to get into position. Her goal had been to land a blow on Marinette's kidney to stagger her and then knee her in the gut and slam her fists in an overhand strike into the back of Marinette's head to bring her down where Toru could rain down blows until she won. However, at the last moment Marinette had formed an item over her ears and turned to block the kick.
"Not bad but even without my eyes I can still use Lucky Charm and it doesn't let me down." Marinette said her eyes still closed as she pushed Toru's leg to the side as hard as she could staggering her friend back with a yelp that Marinette heard clearly. "And I'm physically a lot stronger than you Toru. It's stealth v. brawn now an I have the advantage."
Marinette showed that by stepping forward as Toru spun and hopped back to avoid falling over, she heard it all, and just managed to get her feet under her as Marinette closed the gap and got her fists up. Without her eyes she couldn't actually aim but she could hear where Toru's body was so she punched hard and forward in a horizontal jab at the largest target, Toru's center of mass. The goal was to strike Toru in the chest, hopefully break a rib or two, and thus ruin her stealth with an injury that would labor her breath which Marinette could then capitalize on.
What Marinette hadn't taken into account, well other than the fact that she was punching an invisible target, was their height difference. Toru was 5 feet tall, and Marinette was now an inch taller having finally had a growth spurt, so they were almost the same height and as such her first hit something noticeably soft in front of her with a noticeable hard point on it.
The blow did cause Toru to gasp in pain and shock and she slid back over the concrete panting loud enough to be heard without Marinette's item. Toru's natural left airbag had managed to soften Marinette's blow enough to take a good bit of the force of it and stop Marinette from breaking a rib or two.
"Huh, guess there are more uses to bigger boobs than I thought." Marinette said as she opened her eyes, they still stung from earlier and her vision was a little blurry, but she could see, and she'd known exactly what she'd hit given that it was cold in the room. "But you're done now, Toru."
With that Marinette changed her item into a capture item for Toru and she grinned as she got a yo-yo that appeared above her right hand. As it fell into her hand and Marinette instinctively grabbed it with her years of training her vision grayed and the yo-yo flashed with the expected ladybug print pattern before a human silhouette that was bent over, right hand over the left chest and several feet in front of Marinette flashed.
Well, looked like her Lucky Charm vision could tell her exactly where Toru was when she had a capture item for her, good to know, and now Marinette knew she'd won as she spun the yo-yo. Next time she was going to use this strategy on Toru, it was better than the old one and would probably hurt less.
Toru was still gasping, she'd not really been winded, but she was in a fair bit of pain seeing as Marinette had punched her in the left breast, the whole thing would bruise from that, so she didn't have a chance to avoid what came next as Marinette swung the yo-yo in a wide, horizontal, arc at Toru. The yo-yo flew true and wrapped around Toru's biceps and chest and pinned them there with a yelp as she looked up at a grinning Marinette.
Marinette didn't say anything as she yanked her yo-yo back to her and then let go of the string as the ensnared Toru, an odd sight for sure as all you could see was the yo-yo string wrapped around something that it was pressing into, flew at her. Marinette just stepped forward and reached her right hand out as Toru got near her, using the yo-yo as a baseline for Toru's body, and gabbed her the moment she felt Toru make contact with her hand.
She'd been hoping for Toru's throat to force the surrender but instead Marinette had grabbed her friend by the face, Toru had turned at the last moment to avoid getting her nose broken, and Marinette's fingers and closed around Toru's face though she made sure to avoid her friend's eyes as she did. Still, Marinette could work with this and as she grabbed Toru she spun with the move, still holding her by the face, and then rather than drive her headfirst into the ground the way Adrien had done to Yanagi in the battle trial Marinette threw the invisible girl at the nearest wall.
All Toru could do was yell as she was still bound, stunned, and in pain, as she first flew at Marinette's hand that grabbed her face before she was spun around and hurled the nearest wall. It was a damned impressive sequence and the only thing that flashed through her mind during it was the reminder of just how much better Marinette was at standard combat.
That thought was brief flights and the spin lasted less than 20 seconds and before Toru could process much more than that, she'd slammed back first into the wall with a loud exhalation of breath that was cut short by her head snapping back to hit the wall with a thud. Her arms were still bound to her side as she slid down the wall to sit on the ground which given that she was naked wasn't the most comfortable thing. As she sat there, she groaned in pain which turned out to be the wrong move.
It told Marinette that Toru wasn't technically out of the fight yet and she rushed at the girl, the yo-yo still around her and sliding sideways with Toru serving as her guide but Marinette got there in time to stop Toru from hitting the ground on her side. She did this by using the yo-yo to determine roughly where Toru's right shoulder was and then righted her. However all that was so that Marinette could find Toru's neck and then used her right hand to grab her friend around the throat and haul her up by it.
Toru gasped in shock as Marinette's strong, slender, fingers closed around her throat and then lifted her off the ground as she gave a pathetic attempt to struggle against it. It didn't help that the yo-yo still around her arms, she couldn't get her hands up to try and pry Marinette's away not that that would have worked.
Marinette ended her struggling by slamming Toru into the wall again as she pinned her there by her throat, tight enough to hold her and cause discomfort, and Toru was ashamed to admit it some level of arousal, but not tight enough to choke of too much air. Basically, it was a hold that told Toru in no uncertain terms that Marinette literally held Toru's life in her right hand and that she was in full command of what happened next, which came in the form of a single word.
"Yield." Marinette said calmly as she held Toru there her legs kicking slightly in the air, but they didn't even register to Marinette. "I've got you now Toru so just yield already."
"Alright." Toru gasped out as she knew that it was over. "I yield. I surrender to you Marinette."
"And Dupain-Cheng wins." Aizawa said ending it and immediately Marinette let go of Toru and dismissed the yo-yo but made sure to grab Toru's arms in the process as she slid down the wall.
Marinette helped her friend down and steadied her on her feet, her arm around Toru's shoulders as she found her footing while Aizawa came over to them and two robots that had been on standby just in case came into the gym with a stretcher having been on call and went straight to Mina who was still unconscious on the ground. Aizawa would give her a debrief, and extra training as she'd been the worst in this training exercise that the girls had decided to have, later, but he approached the other two girls first.
"Right, I'll have a fuller debrief later but that wasn't too bad on your parts." Aizawa said as Mina was stretchered away to the Nurse's Office. "You'll get notes on what you did right and wrong though most will be reserved for Ashido as she made the most mistakes as you two did as well. Dupain-Cheng, care to elaborate on your big mistake."
"I focused on neutralizing Mina's acid rather than realizing that Toru was the greater threat with her ability to warp light." Marinette said calmly though it was starting to hurt as her jaw was swelling. "I should have realized that infrared googles, while great at finding Toru, are a double-edged sword if she's naked and has the opportunity to use her move. She got me there by using my attack on Mina to get ready and the waited until I'd handled Mina to attack. She deduced what I'd do and as such landed some hits on me that I shouldn't have taken."
"Correct though that alkaline slide was also reckless, I know you can take it but it's still not smart in a battle you don't need to get hurt in as you had managed to stop Ashido's sliding and had a counter for her acid so that is a situation where hand to hand or weapon-based combat is best." Aizawa said. "Other than the reckless nature of it, however, your take down of Ashido was good and efficient."
"Thank you, sir." Marinette said with a nod.
"Hagakure, what was your biggest mistake?" Aizawa asked her looking to where he thought her face was based on Dupain-Cheng's arm as that was the only indication as to where the invisible girl was at the moment.
"I had an advantage, and I didn't use it." Toru said her voice a little horse from being choked. "I landed blows on Marinette and should have either kept it up while trying to avoid a counter or made my way around to her back faster. I was too cautious of her being able to grab me after I landed the kick as she could then use her strength to win rather than exploiting the momentary advantage that I had."
"That is a wise strategy with Dupain-Cheng's speed and strength, but she does lack Agreste or Shoji's acute senses, so you are right in that you didn't exploit your opening fast enough as you gave her enough time to use her Quirk to overcome her situation." Aizawa said with a nod. "You had a good plan and out thought Dupain-Cheng the moment she went for Ashido and not yourself, that was well done, but you got too cautious at the end and that cost you. In battle against a foe who is stronger than you in direct combat you can't be cautious."
"I know sir, I'll learn from it." Toru said.
"Pain is a good teacher on that front." Aizawa said. "Now get dressed and go to see Recovery Girl, both of you. I'll give Ashido her lengthy feedback when she comes to."
Marinette and Toru nodded before Marinette helped Toru back to her clothes so that she could get dressed and then they left chatting quietly about the battle to go see Recovery Girl and make sure Mina was ok. The pair had failed, and both would have to respect what that meant as it looked like they weren't going to get the confirmation that they wanted anytime soon.
Aizawa just watched them leave before he headed out as well. He had to quickly write down the mistakes that Ashido had made for her impending lecture, as well as where she needed to focus her training, and make sure that she had recovered. Then he had a damned staff meeting to discuss various things coming up that he had to attend.
That was going to be draining but he had some training ideas to run by the other teachers and after that battle he was more than willing to sanction the battle between Dupain-Cheng and the girls of Class 1-B. However, he'd ask for Midnight, and probably that Fei girl that assisted Mage, to supervise it.
It would be good practice though and the students would need it for what was to come. They all would, Aizawa knew that, he just hoped that none of them suffered the same fate as Shirakumo had in what was to come. That was what they were preparing for and Shota Aizawa was going to make sure that they were ready for that.
Jiro was startled from her desk, where she was trying to do some school work and listen to a little music that her parents had just recorded, but the sound of her doorknob turning startled her from her work. She turned to blink at the door as it opened, not even a knock, and a very drained looking Mina and Toru walked in, the door closing behind them. They were still in their PE kits from day's training, which had ended several hours ago as it was well into the evening, though other than being drained they didn't look in rough shape, well other than a few odd holes in Mina's clothes.
Before Jiro could even rise to ask what the hell was going on Mina reached her bed, hit it, and fell forward to face plant on it with her legs off the end. She then wormed her body along the bed to lay her head on Jiro's pillow and buried her face in it. Toru was even worse as she just fell to her knees and then laid out on Jiro's rug next to the bed.
"Er what's up?" Jiro asked confused. "You two look like hell. What happened in training? I know you two did some special training but was it really that bad?"
"We fought Marinette in a no holds barred training battle, that was our special training." Mina mumbled into Jiro's pillow causing Jiro's eyes to go wide at that given how stupid a decision that was. "We just got back from the Nurse's Office and Mr. Aizawa's lecture."
"Marinette and I went to make sure Mina was ok then I stayed to let her know that I'd lost as well so that Marinette could return and do some work." Toru said. "And Mina needed someone there when Mr. Aizawa gave her her feedback as it was quite extensive."
"I thought I did better than that, but I really didn't do anything good in the fight." Mina said. "Can confirm, Marinette's a monster in battle."
"Um yeah she's easily the strongest girl if not the strongest in our class as a whole including the other one." Jiro said looking at the other girls her eyes still wide. "Fighting her in anything beyond training is not a wise move. Remember how she demolished me in the battle trial, that taught me how strong she was, and she's only gotten stronger since then so that every time we think we've caught up she's already moved ahead of that. Hell, the only one to beat her in our class was Todoroki and that was more her fault than his and even then, she took a serious beating to be defeated. What on earth possessed you two to take her one without limits other than apparently Mr. Aizawa's Quirk?"
"Sweet, juicy, irresistible gossip." Toru mumbled from the floor. "Only way to get it was if we beat her in a battle. I got some hits in but in the end, she handed us our asses on a silver platter, Mina's more than mine at least seeing as I wasn't knocked out within 5 minutes."
"Ok we're going to circle back to you actually hitting Marinette because that's insane Toru." Jiro said blinking at what her friend had said. "And first off, this gossip. What did you want to know? I know Marinette said she'd only share her tale of how she lost her virginity if she was bested in battle but that can't be the juicy gossip you wanted. We all know she's not a virgin so what?"
"The ship." Mina mumbled. "The great ship of the class. Marinette knows that Ochaco likes him, I know it, but she would only confirm if we beat her."
"A fair trade and we lost." Toru added. "Now we can't bother her again about it, so we've just got to wait for Ochaco to confide in us what we already know but haven't had confirmed."
"Did you really need to know that?" Jiro asked with a sigh as this seemed like way too much pain to go through for confirmation of a question that they all knew the answer to already. "Literally everyone who's not dense, so all us girls and some of the more observant guys in the class like Aoyama, knows that Ochaco loves Midoriya, it's painfully obvious. She may try to hide or suppress it but we all know that she's totally fallen for him. Why do you need confirmation?"
"Chocolates." Mina said confusing Jiro, but she continued her explanation before Jiro could ask. "She gave him chocolates on Valentine's Day, and I wanted that confirmed as well."
"Yeah, I guessed that as well, not hard to deduce after all." Jiro said with a sigh. "And so you decided to face her to get all this despite knowing it's true simply because you wanted confirmation. Sounds like a lot of pain for little gain but it's no wonder you're out of it. How bad was the damage?"
"Bruised abdomen from her headbutting me there and a solid concussion from a kick to the head." Mina said. "Gotta take it easy tomorrow because of the latter."
"A concussion I get but the bruised abdomen from a headbutt I don't get." Jiro admitted. "How did that happen?"
"Marinette went after me first and created some item that had an alkaline solution that balanced out my acid, should have seen that coming honestly." Mina said. "She used that to stop me and then distract me to get low to headbutt me. Crazy chick slid through the alkaline solution on her knees to get under an Acid Veil I through up to block her attack with said solution and then hit me there. Winded the hell out of me and blasted me back. I didn't even come to a stop before Marinette had reached me and kicked me in the head and the next thing, I know I'm coming to in the Nurse's Office. Didn't even get to try any of my new moves on her."
"Marinette isn't exactly someone who would allow you the time to do that." Jiro pointed out before looking to Toru. "And you Toru? What happened to you? you said you got some hits in but how? This is Marinette Dupain-Cheng we're talking about, she's not exactly the easiest person in the class to land a blow on."
"I did better." Toru said with a note of pride in her voice. "As soon as Mina was targeted, I stripped, went commando under my kit to increase my speed for it even if that was embarrassing, and then backed up to let Mina take the initial assault. This whole thing happened because it was Mina's idea to ask Marinette for confirmation, so she'd better be the one taking the attack."
"I'd complain but too tired." Mina said her voice very tried as she spoke.
"She was the sacrificial lamb and as we were in this situation because of her I don't feel bad about that." Toru said. "I had hoped that Mina would land a hit or two but alas she didn't, not that that would be expected against Marinette. Still, I was able to strip so I knew that I had a chance because I also knew that Marinette would get some form of infrared goggles to see me."
"You did?" Jiro asked.
"We've known her and her Quirk long enough to be able to roughly guess what she'd do when she creates something to counter another Quirk." Toru said. "At least against us if she wants to counter our Quirks. Yao-Momo and Ochaco I can't guess and you're more for scouting counters, but Tsu can be bested with something that generates cold, Mina with something that generates an alkaline solution or a base, and I can be seen with infrared googles. However, I have a counter to that with my Warp Refraction move. It's not as good as it would be against night vision goggles but still the sensors in infrared googles are sensitive enough that a flash of light will do more than just briefly irritate her."
"Right your move would cause pain and temporary blindness." Jiro said. "Clever."
"Thanks, it came to me because as soon as Marinette proposed a fight, I knew that I had to figure a way to negate Lucky Charm as best I could." Toru said. "Took a good few hours to realize it but I managed it. That Quirk of hers is almost OP so figuring out what it would likely create and having a counter for it was the only way I had a chance against her, which I managed but I feel like I can't get away with that again against her. Still, it worked this time as it allowed me to close on her and punch her in the jaw and then kick her in the chest. Servers her right for mocking my boobs, they aren't saggy at all."
"Damn Toru." Jiro said as Mina began to snore showing them that she'd fallen asleep while deciding to ignore Toru's comments about her boobs as Jiro did have some insecurities in that department. "Impressive. Few can land a solid hit on Marinette, let along two in quick succession."
"Yeah, but I think I was too distracted by her powerful Quirk." Toru said. "I forget about her damned enhanced constitution."
"Marinette does tend to show off more with her Quirk's items than with her raw strength." Jiro said. "She tends to safe that for quick, decisive blows. The only exception was her fight with Shishida in the joint training exercise, that did remind us of her raw strength."
"Yeah, well I forgot about it and rather than keep up my assault because those blows weren't enough to take her down, I backed up." Toru said. "I figured it was safer to back up and circle behind her to strike her in the back as I had the upper hand at the time, especially with her eyes closed but…"
"But Marinette is a full package and Lucky Charm is damned hard to counter." Jiro said. "You got her eyes, but Marinette's mind is so unusual that she'd have just reapplied it to get around being temporarily blinded."
"Oh, she did, she created some ear things that likely enhanced her hearing enough to counter my attempt to kick her in the kidneys and that was it for me." Toru said. "She blocked it and then staggered me by forcing my leg away. Then she punched me in the chest, and all that was before she opened her eyes again."
"Damn so you were brought down by broken ribs then." Jiro said. "And with the force Marinette can apply, especially given the lack of visuals in the situation, she'd likely have punctured your lung with that kind of blow."
"Er no." Toru said from the ground.
"Um what?" Jiro asked confused. "You took a punch to bone from Marinette, and it didn't break? How much was she pulling it?"
"Oh, she wasn't pulling it, well not enough to avoid breaking bone as I felt all of that power." Toru said. "It's more my natural chest protectors took most of the blow."
"Your natural…" Jiro began before her eyes went wide. "Oh…"
"Yup, pretty much bruised my entire left boob with a punch but it stopped my ribs from breaking so yeah for slightly above average boobs I guess." Toru said unable to see Jiro look down at her own flat chest and sigh at it. "Forced me back several feet as well and it hurt like hell, bruised my whole titty, I'm sure of it. Then Marinette changed her item to a yo-yo."
"Her weapon." Jiro said as Mina continued to snore clearly dead to the world at this point. "She's deadly with that thing."
"Tell me about it." Toru mumbled. "It caught me around my upper arms and chest so I couldn't move them and then she pulled me to her, grabbed my face and tossed me into a wall so most of my back was bruised. Hit my head as well but I was still conscious only dazed as I slide down to sit on the floor. Then, the next thing I know Marinette has me by the throat and lifts me up to slam me back into the wall again. Not going to lie that both sucked and confirmed that choking is an aphrodisiac if done right and that girl's got an expert touch to her. Hard enough to let you know she's choking you but soft enough to let you still breath just about, she really had my life in her hand at that moment."
"I did not need to know that." Jiro said. "Like any of that last part."
"I didn't want to feel it, but I did." Toru grumbled. "And that was quickly replaced by the fact that I was being chocked against a wall and off the ground. Marinette told me to yield, and I did because I knew I had lost."
"Wise." Jiro said. "That was a situation where surrender was the only option."
"Yup." Toru said. "Marinette of course was her usual great self and released me and helped me to Recovery Girl after Aizawa's brief feedback on our biggest mistakes and stayed as I got healed before her. She had some chemical burns from that alkaline solution, and I'd bruised her jaw and sternum but that was it. Once she was good, she made sure that Mina and I were ok and left as she does have homework to get back to. Then I waited for Mina to wake, which she did right before Aizawa got in and he gave her a detailed breakdown of her mistakes. She has some extra training to make up for that."
"Makes sense." Jiro said. "And you?"
"I'm good, just more close combat which I can do with Ojiro so I'll…" Toru began before it all finally caught up to her and she passed out mid-sentence and began to snore as well.
Jiro just blinked at that. Two of her good friends were now sleeping in her room and looked like they'd be out for a while so she got up and put some blankets on them, and got a pillow for Toru, before she set up a futon bad for herself on the floor and then went back to work as she had a little more to do.
Still, she couldn't help but think of her friends' bold choice to face Marinette for information, it showed their dedication to getting said information. They'd lost, which against Marinette was to be expected, but at least Toru had done well to predict Marinette to some extent and get some hits in. That really showed her training.
Training was what they were doing, and Jiro was sure that there was a reason for it. She just didn't know what but she trusted her teachers and the pros to lead them in the right direction, so she focused on her work and made sure to think how best to train harder. She wanted to be a hero and she was going to be a good one, she knew it. They all were and Jiro was determined of that as she worked and her friends slept in her room all unaware of what they were training for and the battles that were to come.
An interesting chapter I'm sure, this is one I've had one my mind for a while and long thought of how the battle would go if Mina and Toru faced Marinette to get that juicy gossip Mina was craving so much. Alas for them they couldn't best Marinette but Toru did well there and really showed her own growth but in the end she could take down the top girl in her class. This is also a little taste of what to expect in Marinette's upcoming battle against the girls of Class 1-B but all in good time as the next chapter has already been teased and that will set up a few more in the time skip arc so plenty more to look forward to as the Paranormal Liberation War arc nears. That is all I have for y'all however so I will leave this chapter off here. As always, if you like it or have any questions please let me know in reviews or PMs, I will try to answer them as best I could and post any questions asked between uploads at the start of the next chapter and do follow and favorite this, so you are alerted to future uploads. Do keep the reviews coming as I like hearing from y'all as you enjoy my work, it motivates me to keep producing the best work I can for y'all to enjoy. Until next time.
Stringdog
